Not long after the Pittsburgh Steelers announced on Monday that they had waived cornerback Justin Gilbert, a former teammate of his took to Twitter with a very interesting comment regarding the transaction.
Cleveland Browns tackle Joe Thomas, who played two seasons with Gilbert, had this to say about the former first-round draft pick.
“If you don’t like football, it doesn’t matter how talented you are, your star will burn out quick,” Thomas tweeted.
That’s a hell of a comment from Thomas and one that should likely be respected.
Gilbert, in case you forgot, reportedly struggled with missing meetings while with the Browns as a result of him being a “hard sleeper.” Because of that, and in addition to how little the Steelers used him on defense throughout the 2016 season, you have wonder if Gilbert may have been late or missed a few team meetings. You also have to wonder about Gilbert’s football IQ at this point.
The Browns were ready to waive Gilbert ahead of their final round of cuts just prior to the start of the 2016 regular season and that’s when the Steelers stepped in and traded a 2018 sixth-round draft pick for him.
Gilbert’s 2016 season in Pittsburgh was highlighted by him playing 112 total special teams snaps. He even failed to become the Steelers regular kickoff returner during the season and that was very disappointing as well.
With Monday being the first official day of waivers for 2017, the Steelers are likely hoping that another team will claim the cornerback in order to get out from underneath the $2,170,023 guaranteed money that is owed to him. If all of the other 31 NFL teams read and respect Thomas’ Twitter opinion of Gilbert, such a transaction is unlikely to occur.
